Overpayment of benefit

Benefit may be overpaid for many reasons and recovery often leaves people in hardship. Using practical examples, this course equips you to deal with overpayments by taking a systematic approach to checking and challenging recoverability. It also looks at the different rules and tactics that apply with the introduction of universal credit.

The course covers:

• An overview of the necessary decision-making process before an overpayment decision can be made• The tests of misrepresentation and failure to disclose central to overpayments of DWP benefit• Housing benefit overpayments and the role of official error• Universal credit overpayments• Reducing the level of overpayments• Overpayment appeals• Methods of recovery

This course does not cover tax credit overpayments. See Tax credits – key issues for advisers